Chapter 210: What is the Everlasting Floor
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
By the way, I had not been spending all my days relaxing and playing around on the peaceful Clearflow Lake floor.
[1] Director Bear informed us to wait while he had people gather information about the Everlasting Floor and make preparations to take on that place.“By the way, what’s the Everlasting Floor like?” Ramis asked the very question I was curious to know the answer to.
A meeting had been called at Ramis and Hyurumi’s tent in the middle of the night to discuss what was to be done in the future.
The people gathered there were Ramis and Hyurumi, [2] of course, along with Shui and Pitee. It was an all-girls meeting since it was a late-night meeting, which was why Hevoy and Mishael were excluded… I was a man, but as a vending machine, it wasn’t a problem.
“The Everlasting floor is the lowest floor that has been found since this dungeon was subjugated. It had been years, maybe even decades, since the Rocky Dog Mountain floor had been conquered, but we still haven’t found the floor boss for the Everlasting floor.”
“Leader said something about not wanting to deal with that floor because it was too troublesome, yeah?” [1] said Shui.
“Yes… he said… leave it as a last thing…” said Pitee.
It was such a troublesome place that even Leader Keyroil had been avoiding; it looks like this place was going to be quite the headache.
“Was it because the enemy’s too strong?” [1] Ramis wondered.
“Nah, it’s the total opposite. There were no reports of enemy encounters on that floor at all. A very safe floor with no enemies at all.”
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion [2] at Hyurumi’s mysterious statement. I would have done so as well if my body had been capable of that move.
“What’s that supposed to mean [2]?”
“I mean, there were no reports of enemies being fought on that floor. The only thing I could find out about that place is that it’s a vast open area cut through by a deep chasm with no visible bottom. And that there were three paths extending across the chasm.”
Three paths over a deep chasm? Like an abyss? That sounds like it would be difficult for someone with a fear of heights.
“Of those three paths, only the far right one had been conquered. By that, I meant someone walked down that path until the end [3].”
[3] “They just… walk to the end?” Ramis said, incredulity in her voice.“Yes, the hunter reported that they had walked all the way to the end without meeting a single enemy for a whole year. According to them, the pathway appears to go on forever until it just abruptly stops. That’s why the floor was later known as the Everlasting Floor.”
Walking down a seemingly endless road over an abyss for an entire year sounds like quite the ordeal. Aside from the yawning abyss below, the view must have been quite monotonous. Which was probably some new kind of torture.
“Just thinking about that makes me ill-su…”
“That’s… impossible… for Pitee…”
Honest thoughts? I think Pitee could make it, though Shui would probably die of starvation.
[2] Speaking of starvation…“The hunter who made the one-year journey took another year to return here. However, they encountered no monsters in those two years, no plants either. A normal person would have starved to death no matter what kind of provisions they brought, but this person has the Gift that suppresses energy consumption.”
Without a Gift like that, a regular person would have to somehow secure 2 years’ worth of food, which would be impossible unless they had a special magic tool-
[2] Ah, speaking of special magic tools…“So that’s why Leader Keyroil wanted Hakkon!” [1] Ramis cried out, echoing my thoughts.
“That’s probably the case. I suppose this also means that Leader Keyroil still hasn’t managed to cross the Everlasting Floor just yet. He may have made some progress through Sulrim’s Gift to teleport, but teleportation only allows the user to go to places they have been to before. Not to mention, teleportation consumes a lot of energy.”
“In short, it’s possible that he’s advancing slowly as best he could before returning to resupply, allowing Sulrim to rest before teleporting to the very end, making some more progress and repeating the whole thing again?”
To be honest, it sounded like a pain. Well, if they give me enough money, I can certainly provide enough food for a year or two.
This was certainly not something I had ever heard Leader Keyroil mention.
“To challenge… Everlasting Floor… must prepare for… long battle…” [1] said Pitee.
That’s right, taking me would be the best choice, but we have to prepare for the fact that this mission may take us an entire year to conquer.
A year is a pretty long time. Looks like we won’t be returning to Clearflow Lake for a while.
“I do wish there were a better way to do this, but… anyway, the plan is to target the middle path. There had been some attempts; however, no one was willing to traverse a lonely path for years just to return with nothing, so not much progress had been made.”
That’s right, since the other paths might be even longer than the ‘conquered’ one, no one in their right mind would want to attempt the trip. Still, it would have been nice to have a trick or shortcut to speed up the attempt.
In the end, since I can provide most necessities, it’s doable so long as I am with the party. For other things like magic tools or bedrolls, I can store them in the coin lockers.
The main problem was how long the mission was going to take. None of the directors could be away for too long, for example, and dragging Grandpa Shimerai and Grandma Yumite out on such a journey is out of the question.
We would have to attempt this challenge with our usual members.
“If we don’t try and conquer this floor, it would just be what the Ruler of the Netherworld wants, right?” [1] said Ramis.
“If we look at it as a long mission together, surely that’s fine, right? With this group, I’m sure one year would pass by in a flash!” [1] said Shui.
“Yeah! And we have Hakkon with us!” [1] said Ramis, punching the air energetically.
“Pitee will… be fine… maybe…” Pitee mumbled with a weakly raised fist.
“I’ll go too. Since we don’t have to fight any enemies, I won’t be a burden on anyone,” said Hyurumi thoughtfully.
“And with Hakkon here, there’s no need to worry about food either!” Shui declared.
All four ladies seemed determined to challenge the Everlasting Labyrinth. That left Hevoy and Mishael. While I was a bit concerned about having a mixed gender party travelling together for an extended period of time, I really can’t imagine either of them making advances towards any women.
[2] Hevoy was a strict cleric, while Mishael had social anxiety, although this fellow could be oddly intense at times. Especially towards me…Let’s ask them about it tomorrow.
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“Of course, I’ll be joining! I shall follow Master anywhere, even to the ends of the world!”
Mishael’s response was as expected.
“I, too, shall participate in this mission. Reflecting on oneself during a long journey can be quite enlightening.”
Ever since he had achieved his life’s purpose, Hevoy had become calmer and a lot more tolerant than before. It felt natural for him to join us in this mission.
I felt so proud of him for having grown as a human being.
“Shoes would inevitably get worn out during long journeys; therefore, we should all stock up on spares. Naturally, I shall personally dispose of these worn-out shoes for the team.”
I take back what I said earlier. Growth? What growth? It must have been my imagination.
Will we be able to challenge the Everlasting Floor without losing a single person? Honestly, I am not counting on having more people, so I hope we have enough people. To be honest, the gender ratio is heavily skewed, so it would be great to have one or two more guys to balance things out, but I really can’t think of other male acquaintances who could join us.
Gatekeepers Karios and Gors had to guard the Clearflow Lake Floor. Also, with what happened with Gors last time, well…
As for the Director of Darkness… No offence, but the thought of being with him day in, day out for a year or more is… I would rather not think about it.
Director Bear can’t leave Clearflow Lake for long periods of time since he is the Director of this floor.
In short, this would be the team we go with in the foreseeable future..
The biggest obstacle would be transportation. Should we get an unasus to pull a cart? If we have Kikoyu with us, Botan would be the one to pull the cart. From experience, I know that Botan has incredible pulling power. A regular unasus may not be as fast or dependable.
The key point of this mission is ways to reduce travel time. Let’s think about ways to do this. Speaking of points, I’ve accumulated an astonishing number of points lately.
Defeating the Middle Finger General earned me over a million points, and since I already had over a million points in my bank, I now have 2.37 million points.
I’m getting closer to the 3 million points needed to rank up as a Rank 3 Vending Machine, but 630,000 points still seem far away…
It would be great if I could defeat another Floor Boss, but it’s not like we see those every day, and they are not actually easy opponents.
That said, once we start making moves towards conquering the Everlasting Floor, the Ruler of the Netherworld is likely to get anxious. Since we are technically more well-equipped to take on the challenge.
They might send people to sabotage us, but I would bet on this group over anyone else.
Still, it would be wise to take some precautions before they act against us.
[Gumihou: Okay, this floor is definitely different] [1] Added details for clarification [2] Adjusted language for smoother transition [3] Fluffing up flat jokes
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